1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communications, and in particular, to providing location-based social networks in a wireless communication system.
2. Statement of the Problem
Cellular phones, PCS phones, and other mobile wireless data devices have become very popular due to the conveniences that they provide to people. Wireless devices have become compact in size, which make them easy and convenient to carry. People routinely carry their cell phones or wireless PDAs with them on their belt, in their pocket, in their purse, etc, so they are available for use at any time.
Because of the large demand for wireless voice and data services, service providers strive to offer new services to present and potential customers. Some exemplary services are text messaging, digital pictures, web browsing, etc. A new trend for service providers is to provide location-based services. The location-based services provide information to a mobile user based on the location of the mobile user. For instance, the location-based services may send informational text messages to the user's phone, such as information on the weather, information on traffic reports, advertisements, etc, based on the location of the user. Another location-based service allows a user to identify and/or communicate with other individuals, groups and businesses in his/her vicinity or another geographic area.
While location-based services allow users to identify other individuals in their proximity, these location-based services lack the capacity to allow users to search for and identify other individuals having certain specified characteristics. Instead, these location-based services typically provide a user with a list of all individuals in the immediate vicinity of the user. The user may want to further narrow the list to view people matching specified search criteria of the user. For example, a single male may want to identify single females in the area within a specified age bracket. The male user may want to further narrow the search to identify single females having certain specified characteristics (e.g., similar hobbies). Likewise, a single female may only want her identity to be provided to a male matching her specified search criteria. Thus, it is a problem that present wireless communication systems don't provide social networking services which allow users to identify other individuals in their vicinity matching specified criteria of the user.